Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HOAREC/N) consists of two parts:

The Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre (HoA-REC) serves as the secretariat for the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Network (HoA-REN), and as the facilitator of cooperation between member organisations and other environmental actors, including private sector and government. It is currently located in the new building of the Science Faculty of the Addis Ababa University.

Horn of Africa Regional Environment Network (HoA-REN) is a network of members and partners consisting of environmental CBOs, NGOs and higher learning institutes from six countries in the Horn of Africa. Members of the network are endogenous civil society organizations and higher learning and research institutes. Partners of the network consist mainly of non-endogenous (international) organizations working on environmental issues in the region.

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Management of lakes and wetlands: Governments in the Horn have recognized the need to protect wetlands and efforts are being undertaken to save Ramsar sites like the Sudd in South Sudan, Lake Abijata in the Central Rift Valley in Ethiopia, and Lake Naivasha?? and to develop their (sustainable) tourism potential.

Management of parks and buffer zones: Wildlife is vanishing rapidly from most of the region. Except in Kenya, most protected areas in the form of game parks, bird sanctuaries and nature reserves only exist on paper. However, recently the government of Ethiopia has formulated new legislation around protected areas and wildlife management and several Ethiopian universities are now developing (new) curricula to build human capacity in park and buffer zone management. In Sudan, with peace now gradually returning to the southern part of the country, the realisation to properly protect and manage the valuable wetlands and wildlife is increasing.

Management of highlands and dry lowlands: The Horn of Africa faces great problems with regard to severe land degradation. Loss of land is mainly due to extensive deforestation and cultivation and/or grazing of steep highland areas or ecologically fragile lowlands, without applying proper soil and water conservation practices. The use or sale of dung and crop residue for fuel contributes to lower fertility of soils and decreasing productivity per hectare of land and cubic meter of water.

Febuary 2012: The [2] has taken another step forward: the first National Project Steering Committee took place in Febuary 2012. The NPSC has the overall responsibility on quality control,- development and - assurance related to the objectives of the EU RET / EE project. SCN is member of the NPSC. To ensure good communication Fikirte Regassa Beyene is appointed as SCN representative in Addis, and ISC (Integrated Solar Cooking) Project Offcer and member of HoA-REC/N EU project staff.

November 2011: At the beginning of this year, Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoA-REC/N) invited Clara Thomas and Henk Crietee to provide training in various locations in Northern and Southern Ethiopia. Representatives of participating NGO's, mainly women, learned about the Integrated Cooking Method, public promotion, and project planning, as well as how to create a small production enterprise. Mesfin Kinfu, from HoA-REC/N, accompanied Clara and Henk and acted as translator and co-trainer. In October Clara and Henk attended a workshop in Ethiopia at the start of the large renewable energy project. Their contribution was important and highly appreciated by the participants.

March 2009: HOAREC/N held an integrated solar cooking workshop with participants from Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Somaliland, Puntland, Djibouti and the Netherlands. Solar Cookers International’s Margaret Owino was among the key speakers. With technical support from SCN and KoZon Foundation, HOAREC/N will plan and coordinate an ambitious 3-year program to spread integrated solar cooking and solar water pasteurization in the region. Clusters will be created to benefit three districts in Ethiopia and communities in Djibouti, Puntland, and Somaliland. Clusters for people with physical and visual challenges, as well as institutions, research and development agencies, and the health sector, will be formed. Ultimately, each cluster will have a production and promotion center, a project manager and a female master trainer. Field trainers will be selected by master trainers, who will teach them promotion, monitoring, and evaluation skills and help them lead monthly collective cooking meetings. Reported in the November 2009 Solar Cooker Review.